March 2003 saw the death of two young women in their 20s.
One of them died a horrible and senseless death.
On March 5th, Moran Shushan, got on the number 17 bus in Haifa. Unbeknownst to her, on that same bus sat a Palestinian homicide bomber; he carried an explosive belt round his waist that had been packed with shrapnel. She was a bright and pretty young girl of 20 who loved to dance. She had three sisters, one of whom was her twin.
Thankfully, Moran probably had no idea what happened to her when the bomber opened his jacket and detonated his deadly device. In that instance, 15 people were killed and 53 more were injured. Moran was plunged into unconsciousness. She suffered horrific injuries to her major organs. She was covered with third degree burns. Her mother, upon hearing her daughter's diagnosis, prayed for G-d to be merciful and spare her daughter any more suffering. Six days later, on March 11, Moran slipped away, her injuries having been so severe she never even regained consciousness.
Rachel Corrie, aged 24 and an ISM (International Solidarity Movement) "peace activist" would undoubtedly have known about this deadly attack.
She was right in the thick of it at the time, in Gaza. On March 5th, Rachel Corrie would have seen the street celebrations that always follow every Palestinian atrocity in Israel. She would have seen hooded men firing rifles in the air, women whooping for joy and excited children enjoying the sweets that were thrown to them. She would probably have seen posters of the bomber appear on walls. She would have heard him hailed as a "shahid" - martyr - and listened to sermons boomed out two days later from mosques describing this evil creature as a great and noble person.
Rachel Corrie was no doubt caught up in some frenzied humanistic fervour that had been instilled in her by the very dubious International Solidarity Movement. At best, this organization succeeds in convincing a sad selection of losers and people looking for some good purpose, but who can't see beyond the end of their un-objective noses, that they have a valiant and true cause. At worst, ISM produces women like Rachel Corrie, totally brainwashes them and, in the name of peace, has them interfere recklessly and dangerously in the security of a sovereign state.
Five days after the death of Moran, Rachel Corrie, in her role as "peace activist", stood in front of a house destined for demolition. Like many homes in Gaza, it had been used by any number of Palestinian terrorist organizations to smuggle weapons and ammunition through a labyrinth of tunnels. Corrie stood proud before the demolition vehicle trying to prevent the destruction of this home. She would not have given a thought to Moran and the fact that these were no doubt the sort of weapons that had wiped out her life a few days before. The vehicle did not see or hear the frenzied screams of Rachel Corrie and, like Moran, she was killed.
Rachel Corrie, had she lived and had more experience in her short life, may have looked back and had some regrets over the choices she made.
She may well have discovered and found it regrettable that she had thrown in her lot with people who have never represented peaceful co-existence with Israel.
She may well have found it regrettable that peace does not mean interfering in acts of self-defense carried out by Israel, especially after nearly three years of relentless Palestinian terrorism.
She may well have regretted and wished with all her heart to hide from her own grandchildren pictures showing her in a fevered frenzy, surrounded by already vulnerable Palestinian children, as she burned not only an Israeli flag, but portraying betrayal at the highest level to her own country by burning her own national flag. What kind of "peace activism" produces scenes like these?
Rachel Corrie, given time to look back, would undoubtedly have seen the thugs, assassins, hooded men and despots she associated with as people with little, if any, respect for the dignity of human life.
She would have seen through their ploy to use her and people of similar brainwashing potential as decoys in a deadly game of death and deception. She would have recoiled at the thought that they had simply used her as a decoy to mask their own evil intentions.
She would have regretted the times she was told to interfere at checkpoints and distract soldiers. She would have regretted all the times she had come to the security barrier along the Palestinian Authority, not to stand vigil for a plighted Palestinian farmer who had to spend another 20 minutes getting to his olive orchard, but with a sledge hammer and an angry voice to bring the barrier down, so that more bombs would kill more innocent people.
She would have understood that if Israel had its security barrier in place earlier, maybe Moran and hundreds more would still be alive today.
Rachel Corrie would have regretted the frenzy of hatred she shared with the Palestinian children as she burned flags with them.
Rachel Corrie was an intelligent girl. She had been brought up in a society that makes a clear distinction between right and wrong, and between good and evil.
Rachel Corrie was sucked into believing that evil was good. She was sadly nothing more than a pawn, brought into a society that honours mass murderers, demonizes their children to worship those killers and turns gullible young women like Rachel Corrie into murderers' cheer leaders.
Rachel Corrie was hailed as a heroine. Requiems have been written for her. Whole web-sites are devoted to her heroism. It seems there is no shortage of people that are prepared to descend to any level to justify terrorism.
Her parents now wish to take the IDF to court, blaming them for her accidental death. Maybe if Rachel Corrie had lived, her last regret would be to watch her grieving parents. These people, engulfed with pain and seeking reparations from the IDF, simply choose to ignore the road that led their misguided daughter to defend and stand up for terrorism.
As much as I sympathize with any parent that buries a child, my heart goes out to Moran. Moran will never dance again. She did not have the choice whether to live or die.
